The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to a connector that may be used in an orthogonal relationship with an identical connector on both sides of a midplane.
Some electrical systems, such as network switches and computer servers with switching capability, include connectors that are oriented orthogonally on opposite sides of a midplane in a cross connect application. Switch cards may be connected on one side of the midplane and line cards may be connected on the other side of the midplane. The line card and switch card are joined through connectors that are mounted on opposite sides of the midplane. Typically, traces are provided on the sides and/or the layers of the board to route the signals between the connectors. Sometimes the line card and switch card are joined through connectors that are mounted on the midplane in an orthogonal relation to one another. The connectors include patterns of signal and ground contacts that extend through a pattern of vias in the midplane.
However, conventional orthogonal connectors have experienced certain limitations. For example, it is desirable to increase the density of the signal and ground contacts within the connectors. Heretofore, the contact density has been limited in orthogonal connectors, due to the contact and via patterns. Conventional contact and via patterns of an orthogonal connection are formed symmetric about a forty-five degree axis with respect to columns or rows of the contacts. The symmetric arrangement limits the density of the signal and ground contacts in conventional orthogonal connectors. For example, in differential applications where signal contacts are arranged in a plurality of differential pairs, a distance, sometimes referred to as a pitch, between adjacent signal pairs has been determined based on a space needed for each differential pair and an associated ground(s). In conventional connectors, the pitch is a square grid such that the row to row pitch is the same as the column to column pitch in order to use the same connector design on each side of the midplane, which may be desirable to reduce a cost and/or a complexity of the orthogonal connector.
A need remains for an improved orthogonal connector that increases contact and via density in differential pair applications.